Road woes have played a large part in the Boston Bruins' slip in the Eastern Conference standings but they will face a potentially short-handed rival in their next game away from home. The Buffalo Sabres, though, will be seeking to add to a five-game point streak at the First Niagara Center when they face the Bruins on Sunday night. Boston was challenging for the Eastern Conference lead earlier this month but has fallen well behind Pittsburgh by going 2-4-1 in its last seven. The Bruins (21-8-4) suffered their fifth loss in six road games Saturday.

"We know we have to get better," goaltender Tuukka Rask said. "We haven't played that bad, but it's uncharacteristic mistakes. And it's something we need to get rid of."It happens but then again ... we know we need to get better in all areas. It's weird because we're not playing awful and we're losing games, but we know it's not good enough."

The Bruins would appear to need a better performance Sunday as Buffalo is 3-0-2 in its last five home games, but the Sabres (13-16-6) are also 0-1-2 in their last three overall after blowing a two-goal lead Saturday against visiting Washington.

Leading scorer Thomas Vanek missed both of those losses with an upper-body injury, but interim coach Ron Rolston told the league's website there's a chance he could return Sunday. Vanek participated in the team's optional skate Saturday, but Rolston said, "he was out there today and moving, but he's not where he needs to be."

The Sabres won't have defenseman Jordan Leopold after he was traded to St. Louis on Saturday for a pair of draft picks. General manager Darcy Regier said that might not be the end to Buffalo's moves before the trade deadline, even hinting that Vanek.

In the meantime, the Sabres will try to earn their third win in four meetings with Boston this season. The used their own three-goal outburst in the third period for a 4-2 victory in the most recent meeting Feb. 15 in Buffalo.

The Sabres are also 5-1-1 in the last seven visits from the Bruins but suffered one of those losses on Feb. 10. Boston scored twice in the third period for that 3-1 win.Miller will likely be back in net after Jhonas Enroth started Saturday. Miller is 16-2-4 with a 2.04 goals-against average at home against Boston in the regular season."

Legion get down to Ottawa customs. Where is white night Kaspars Daugavins ?

Great read san, im hoping that the Bs can finally avenge there previous losses to the sabres, but more importantly play a well executed game and get some confidence back. Gee hinting at vanek you say, wow id love this guy in a Bs uniform.

"Vanek, the leading scorer for the Sabres this season, did skate this morning, but deemed himself not quite ready for a return. That was confirmed by Buffalo interim coach Ron Rolston, who said that Vanek would not play tonight.

Meanwhile, the Bruins are busy trying to figure out what has gone wrong for a team that looked so good at the start of the season. Right now, the team has lost five-of-seven games with just 15 to go until the playoffs.

"I think right now, whatever should be simple is very hard," coach Claude Julien said. "Even in our skate, very complicated. Guys squeezing their sticks right now. We're trying to do our best here to give them some easy solutions and regain that confidence that we once had that makes you a better team. "No doubt it's the biggest challenge we have right now.", the leading scorer for the Sabres this season, did skate this morning, but deemed himself not quite ready for a return."

Reality check for those down on the Bruins right now for no good reason. It's obvious to me the Bruins were and are having issues with fatiuge and a few injuries that seemed to change their mind set {typical Bruins} of late and are now coasting around out there with no real consistency in the physical play whatsoever with 15 to go. but the fact of the matter is they could afford to coast right now thanks to their excellent start this season and not have to kill themselves with 15 to go. is coach Julien pissed about it? absolutely! could they be more consistent? yes! is first and third line production a concern right now? yes! would they like to finish in the top 4? yes! are these end of the season concerns? certainly not! did they need iggy that bad? nope! are they still the best playoff team in the east? in my opinion most definitely! Health is the key of course and getting Kelly back healthy is really important, and a move or two before the deadline wouldn't hurt.

Bottom line is this Bruins team is a really confident group behind the scenes that has displayed that other gear you hear about that's so commonly found in true championship teams. it's just a matter of determination come playoff time PERIOD! the same determination they didn't show against the Caps last spring. if this Bruins team shows up they'll be fine.

The basis of my claim about the Bruins still being the best playoff team in the east is the fact that the Bruins already had an answer for the Iginla trade to Pitt the same way they already had the answer to the Rick Nash to the Rangers trade {who happen to be struggling right now} and so on and so forth. That answer is Zdeno Chara! and the Bruins brass knows it...........

This better change from last game or another awesome performance on the way, Losing happens, but this is not how it should go down. Emotion and compete non existent - you don't need to look any further than this

This better change from last game or another awesome performance on the way, Losing happens, but this is not how it should go down. Emotion and compete non existent - you don't need to look any further than this